The Kissing Disease
by x0aquariusx0
Summary: Out of all the hurdles Mr. Schuester expected to have to jump before regionals, this was certainly not one of them.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Glee_ or any of its characters.

**Pairing:** None. There may be mentions of a few minor pairings, but the story does not focus on them. It's more about the plot.

**A/N:** This is the first _Glee_ fic I've written, so any constructive criticism would be appreciated! It will probably be 3 or 4 chapters. Spoilers only through "Sectionals." The rest is my imagination. Thank you in advance for reading!

_Present_

Mr. Schuester sighed as he clicked into the attendance program during his fourth period class. Three students had come in after the bell (claiming their lockers had jammed…again) and there were two more empty seats. "Okay everyone, take out your homework from last night," he said, scanning the room to see who was missing. "Finn's not back yet?" he asked as the rest of the class grumbled about the simple practice worksheet he'd given the day before.

"No," someone at the back of the room answered. "Matt's out, too."

Two glee club members. Finn had been out for the past two days, but Will had hoped he would be back for today's rehearsal. They really needed to get ready for regionals, and down two members wasn't a good way to start. He marked both of them absent and made a mental note to call Finn's house later to see what was going on.

"All right, pass your papers to the front of the room and take out a pencil. It's time for a pop quiz!"

More groans filled the room in a combination of Spanish and English, and Mr. Schuster had to grin. Sometimes he really loved his job.

_That afternoon_

Will took a bite of his apple while attempting not to get any juice on the sheet music in his hand. He'd gotten sidelined by a parent complaint at the end of the day, and now he was going to be late for rehearsal. He threw the half-eaten apple away, wiped his hand on his pants, and grabbed everything else he would need. Going with the show tunes theme, today they would be starting "Book Report" from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." It was something totally different than what they'd done before, and he thought it would be fun. He couldn't wait to start working on it with the kids.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, guys," he said, as he pushed the door open. "I was..." he stopped short at the sight in front of him. The room was practically empty. Rachel was in her usual spot, ready to rehearse; Mercedes had pulled several chairs together and was lying down with her head on Kurt's leg. The rest of the room was empty. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know, but I find their lack of dedication appalling. Don't they know that regionals are right around the corner?" Rachel demanded, taking her annoyance out on the three people who had actually showed up.

"Hang on, Rachel. Let's just figure this out before anyone gets too upset, okay? There isn't football or Cheerios practice today, is there?"

"I don't think so," Kurt said, idly running his fingers through Mercedes' hair. "And even if there was, that doesn't explain where everyone is. What about Artie and Quinn?"

"Artie was absent today. He left me to suffer through Algebra alone," Mercedes whined. Then, as an afterthought she added, "Jerk."

"Quinn hasn't been in first period, either. I assume she's suffering from morning sickness," Rachel said.

Will's forehead wrinkled. "Finn and Matt weren't here during fourth period, and Santana was out during fifth."

"I think Brittany's been out all week," Kurt added. "Has anyone seen Puck?"

No one spoke up. Mercedes lifted herself on one arm and complained, "Man. How come nobody ever tells me when they're playing hooky? I woulda been in, too. Could have avoided that Spanish quiz that gave me this headache."

Will wanted to make comment about the fact that if Mercedes ever studied, the simple quiz might not have given her a headache. But he kept his mouth shut on that one. "Okay, I think I need to take a trip down to the office. See what's going on."

"I'm coming with you," Rachel said, jumping to her feet.

"We'll be here," Kurt said, laying his head against the back of the chair. "Let us know when we can go home."

As Rachel followed Will down the hall, she asked, "Isn't suspension the punishment for truancy? How many glee rehearsals do you think they'll have to miss? Will this affect our chances for regionals? Because my…"

He held his hand up to stop her. "Let's not jump to any conclusions," he said, though his mind had already traveled to those same thoughts. If some ridiculous stunt messed them up after all the group had been through this year…well…he didn't want to think about the consequences of that just yet.

The secretary looked up when Will and Rachel walked into the office. She smiled. "Hello, Mr. Schuster. What can I do for you?"

"I need you to look up the attendance records for a few of the students in my glee club."

"Sure," she said, turning to her computer. Will pulled up a chair next to her, and Rachel paced in tiny paths between them and the door. "Names?"

Will gave her the names of all nine missing students and she looked them up one by one. Some of them had been absent only today, but a few, like Brittany, Santana, Finn, and Mike had been absent a few days in a row.

"All of their parents called them in sick. They're excused absences."

"But doesn't it seem a little strange that all of them are out at the same time? What are the chances?"

The secretary shrugged with a half-smile. "They wouldn't be the first group of kids to play hooky, and I'm sure they won't be the last."

"I can't believe them," Rachel mumbled under her breath, still pacing.

Will sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to make a few phone calls. Get to the bottom of this."

"I can pull their home phone numbers for you," the secretary offered.

"That would be great. Thank you."

"Oh, wait," she said, narrowing her eyes at something on the screen. "A doctor's note was faxed over for one of the kids this afternoon. Hudson. Finn. Let me see what it says."

Rachel stopped pacing and peered at the monitor along with him. Will read aloud as he tried to decipher the doctor's handwriting. "Finn Hudson was seen in our office today at 2:30 p.m. and has been diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis. Please excuse him from attending school and all activities until…"

"Mono?" Rachel blurted out. "Finn has mono?"

"Apparently," Will responded, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to think.

"But, all of the kids can't have that, right? It can't be transmitted through shaking hands or sneezing like a cold," the secretary offered. Will could tell she was trying to be helpful.

"Yeah. When I was in high school, we always called it the 'kissing disease,'" he added. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he felt something like dread in the pit of his stomach. He looked up at Rachel, whose eyes had grown wide. He tried to keep his question calm. "Rachel? Is it possible that ¾ of our glee club has mono?"

Rachel simply swallowed and said, "Uh-oh."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Glee_ or any of its characters.

**Pairing:** Um, everyone with…everyone in this chapter. Nothing more than PG-13, though.

**A/N:** Thank you for reading the intro, and I hope you enjoy this section!

centeriLater that evening/center/i

After Will spent a solid hour making phone calls to glee club parents, an emergency meeting had been called for 6:00 at the doctor's office where Finn had been diagnosed. The receptionist had taken one look at the sick teens and their concerned parents before transforming a doctors' conference room into a holding area.

Will scanned the room. Most of the kids were in sweats or pajamas, hair a mess, with flushed cheeks and too-bright eyes. He'd gone from angry to confused to concerned and sympathetic as the evening progressed. Artie was sound asleep in his wheelchair and hadn't opened his eyes since his dad brought him in a few minutes ago. Tina's throat was so sore and swollen that she couldn't respond when Will said hello to her. Even big, strong Puck looked wiped out, slouched in his chair with his chin resting on his chest. The glands in Mike's throat were so swollen that Will could see them across the room.

The kids had yet to say much of anything, but the parents were chatting amongst themselves, discussing high fevers and swollen glands and the terrible sore throats. Will absently wondered how he would feel if he were in any of those parents' shoes.

The door opened and a doctor entered. The room went silent as he set a high stack of charts on a counter. "Good evening, everyone," he said, far too enthusiastically. "I'm Dr. Jackson. I understand we've got an epidemic of sorts on our hands." A few murmured "yeahs" spread around the room. "Does someone want to tell me what's going on?"

Most of the parents looked directly to Will as the natural leader of the group. He wiped his hands on his jeans and cleared his throat. "Yeah. Okay. I guess I will."

"And you are…?" Dr. Jackson asked. Will could tell he wasn't being impolite, just trying to get a grasp on this strange situation.

"I'm Will Schuster. The kids' glee club director. At practice after school today, 9 out of 12 of our members were absent. We did a little research and found that they had all been out sick. We also found out that Finn," Will paused, nodding in his direction, "was diagnosed with mono. Since so many of the kids are sick, the parents and I decided that it would be a good idea to bring all of them in."

Dr. Jackson nodded slowly, looking around the room. "Everybody has a sore throat?"

Just about all of the kids nodded.

"Fever?"

At that, the parents started rattling off some unnaturally high numbers.

"Abnormal exhaustion?"

The kids piped in at that one. "I can't even keep my eyes open," Kurt said.

"All I can do is sleep," Santana agreed.

"Okay," Dr. Jackson, holding up a hand to quiet everyone back down. "We'll do blood tests and exams on all of the kids to be sure, but it sounds like your suspicions are correct. Sounds like mono. The question is how did all of you catch it? Mononucleosis is only spread through contact with saliva. Do you all share water bottles?"

A few of the kids exchanged corner-eyed glances and shifted in their seats. Will felt his own eyes narrow. He'd seen those looks too many times and knew that something was up.

"No, not exactly," Quinn answered, her voice hoarse. More glances and cleared throats.

Dr. Jackson spoke up again. "We really need to figure out how this happened. We need to know who patient zero, or the person who got this whole thing started, is so that we can warn others who may have been exposed."

When there was more silence, Will said, "Don't everyone speak at once."

"Whatever it is, you're not going to get in trouble," Dr. Jackson added. "We just need to know what happened.

"Fine," Finn said. "I'll do it. It's just kind of awkward." He winced, though Will couldn't tell if it was because of his sore throat or from whatever he was about to explain. "See, we think it happened a couple of weeks ago, after we were assigned to sing those ballads."

Will nodded, remembering how the kids had joined together to sing "Lean on Me" for Quinn and Finn. So much had changed since then.

Finn continued. "We were all getting along really well, probably the best we've gotten along since New Directions started. Brittany's parents were out of town, so she decided to have all of us over."

Across the room, Brittany's mom rolled her eyes as if she was annoyed but not quite surprised at this revelation.

Finn continued. "There was some alcohol involved and…"

"Finn, shut up," Mercedes hissed, smacking him on the shoulder. "You don't need to tell that part of the story."

"I told you guys you shouldn't be drinking," Rachel added, pride visible on her face. That comment earned her a smack from Kurt.

"You shut up, too," he whined.

"Please continue, Finn," Dr. Jackson said, obviously less worried about the drinking than the illness. Looking around the room, Will wasn't so sure the parents shared his sentiments.

"Anyways, we decided to play spin the bottle."

A few uncomfortable groans went up around the room from both parents and kids.

"So we kissed, we infected each other, and now we're all sick. Can't you just give us some good drugs and let us go home?" Puck asked, sounding a little bit like his normal self.

"I'm afraid I need to know who was kissing whom and how it spread. Like I said, we need to warn anyone else who might have been exposed."

Everyone looked back to Finn. He sighed and shrugged. "Okay. What happened was…"

centeriAt the party/i/center

"Let's play spin the bottle," Brittany said, setting an empty beer bottle in the middle of the group.

Quinn snickered. "How old are we, five?"

"It'll be fun," Brittany pouted, twirling a string of hair around her finger. "Come on. Who wants to go first?"

"I'm not playing," Rachel said, standing up and delicately removing herself from the circle.

"I'll play," Puck said. "But first we have to lay down some ground rules."

"Like what?" Mike asked.

"Like no dudes kissing other dudes."

"Why not?" Santana teased.

"Oh, come on. If guys have to kiss guys, then girls have to kiss girls, and we know the girls won't agree to that," Finn said.

"Really?" Brittany asked. She stood and put a hand on her hip. "So, you're saying we wouldn't do this?" With her head held high, Brittany crossed the circle to Santana. She crouched down so she was sitting on her friend's outstretched legs. Santana took the hint and pulled Brittany's face towards her own. They kissed long and hard, playing it up for the boys' sake. When they broke apart, Brittany giggled and licked at Santana's ear lobe. Then she stood and walked calmly back to her seat.

The guys in the circle were staring with eyes wide, mouths open. Even Kurt looked a little bit impressed. Quinn reached over and smacked Matt.

"Ouch," he said in response. "I didn't say anything. Why do I get hit?"

"Because you're the only guy I can reach," Quinn explained.

"All right," Puck said, snapping out of his trance. "Let's do this, then." Everyone in the room could tell where he was hoping the bottle would land.

"Sure you don't want to play, Rachel?" Finn asked.

"No thanks. I'm good right here," she said, crossing her legs and taking a sip from her water bottle.

"I'll sit out, too," Kurt said, going to join Rachel. "We'll let you guys be the fools."

"Suit yourselves." Puck spun the bottle and everyone whooped and cheered while it slowed to a stop. "Looks like Artie and Santana," Puck said.

Everyone joined in a mature chorus of "oohhhh's."

Santana grinned and bounced out of her seat. "Ready for this, stud?" she asked, balancing carefully on his lap. They kissed easily, which got more whooping out of the audience.

When they pulled apart, Artie adjusted his glasses and licked his lips. "Cherry lip gloss. My favorite," he said, which made everyone laugh.

"I get to spin next, right?" Santana asked, flicking the bottle on her way back to her seat.

"Mike and Brittany," Puck said, winking in Mike's direction. Brittany got up and kissed Mike with just about as much energy and enthusiasm as she had with Santana.

"Aw, man," Matt whined, obviously jealous. "Why can't the bottle land on me?"

"No reason to be jealous," Brittany said, pausing to plant a kiss on Matt's mouth, too. Everyone laughed and cheered.

Brittany gave the bottle a good spin and air-kissed at Artie before sitting down.

"Don't get too comfortable, Brit," Puck said. "You and Finn. Man, why can't I get some of this action?"

"I don't know if I want to kiss a girl who's such a player," Finn teased, wide grin on his face as Brittany approached.

"Oh, you do. Trust me," Brittany said as she straddled his lap.

"Geeze, come up for air, Brit," Santana said when the kiss had gone on a little too long.

"You're just jealous she's not kissing you again," Mike teased.

When they pulled apart, Brittany leaned close to Finn's ear. "Well? Was I right?"

"Oh, you are way too good at this game," Finn laughed.

"All right," Puck said. "Enough out of you two. I'm spinning the damn bottle this time. My turn."

The group made an imitation drum roll by banging on their legs until the bottle came to a stop. Stopped on Puck, nonetheless. And…Matt. The girls started cracking up and high-fiving each other, while the guys wrinkled their noses and Puck tried to get away.

"Never mind," Puck said loudly, hopping over a couch. "Game over. We don't need to play anymore."

"Oh no, dude," Finn said, grabbing Puck before he could get away. The game can end after this, but fair is fair. Everyone else played along. Now you have to, too."

"Yeah," Mercedes and several others chimed in. "Fair is fair."

"Here," Brittany said, handing him a shot of something. "Liquid courage. Just get it over with."

Puck sighed and Finn let go o he could down the shot. "All right, Rutherford."

"Fine," Matt groaned, obviously dreading this as much as Puck. He looked around the room and wagged a finger in warning. "But if any of you even think about breaking out a camera phone, I will be forced to break it along with one of your bones."

Puck stood so that he was about a foot away from Matt. "Yeah. Good call on that one."

Matt shrugged. "I thought so. You know, Brittany did just kiss me, so you can picture her if that makes it any…"

"Aw, man," Puck winced. "I'm not picturing anything when I kiss you. Let's just do this." And with that, he leaned forward. They kissed stiff and awkward, with nothing touching besides their mouths.

Matt pulled away first, coughing and spitting dramatically. "Dude, get your tongue out of my mouth."

That got even more laughing and cheering out of everyone. Even Puck had to laugh because it was so obviously not true. "Don't mess with me like that, man," he said, pulling Matt into a headlock. "I'll beat your ass." He gave Matt a noogie then pushed him jokingly away.

"So," Rachel said smugly as Puck leaned up against the couch next to her. "Is Matt a good kisser?"

Puck rolled his eyes. "You were right. I should've just sat out with you."

Rachel smiled haughtily. "Yes, you should have."

"Come on, guys! Let's play flippy cup!" someone shouted.

With that, the spin the bottle incidents were forgotten. Well, mostly…

centeriPresent/i/center

Finn finished the story and shrugged again. "So…that's what happened." Most of the kids were staring at the floor, and most of the adults looked like they wanted to kill their children.

Dr. Jackson cleared his throat. "Okay. Thank you, Finn. So…it sounds like most of you who were playing either kissed Brittany or kissed someone who had just kissed Brittany. Is that correct?"

The guilty parties shrugged or nodded.

"Brittany," Dr. Jackson continued, "have you been in contact with anyone else who has been sick lately?"

"Well," Brittany said, twirling her hair around her finger as she thought. "I did go out with this guy a while ago, and he said he had mono. But he told me it wasn't contagious and I wouldn't catch it."

There was a chorus of groans and rolling of eyes.

"God, Brittany, why do you have to be such an idiot?" Quinn asked bitterly. Several others echoed the question.

"I'm sorry," Brittany whined. "Come on guys, I didn't know, and I really don't feel good. Can't you just let it go?"

"At least we've found our patient zero," Dr. Jackson said, as if it was a good thing.

After a few more complaints in Brittany's direction, Will quieted everyone down again. "All right," he said, scanning the room and counting students off on his fingers. "So that accounts for Brittany, Santana, Artie, Finn, Mike, Matt, and Puck. What about the rest of you? Quinn?"

All eyes in the room fell on Quinn, and her cheeks blushed even redder than they were before. "I kissed Puck." She shrugged. "I guess it's no secret anymore that he and I have been…together."

"Okay," Will interrupted, not needing her to go any further. "Okay. Mercedes?"

Mercedes cleared her throat. When she spoke, it was with attitude and a hand on her hip. "Puck? You want to explain that one?"

All attention slid back in Puck's direction. He sighed. "Yeah, okay, let's just face the fact that there aren't many people in this room that I haven't kissed. Mercedes is my fault, too."

Will didn't miss the way Quinn's head snapped in his direction, her eyes like daggers, but they still had a few more mysteries to solve.

"I didn't kiss Kurt, though," Puck said suddenly, realizing that he was one of the few left. "No offense, man."

Kurt shrugged. "None taken. I probably got it from Mercedes. I kiss her all the time."

Mercedes squeezed Kurt's hand and kissed his cheek, as if in demonstration of this fact. "Love me some Kurt," she said, which got a few chuckles.

Will turned to Tina. "What about you?" he asked, then winced, remembering how painful her voice (or lack thereof) had been when he first greeted her.

Everyone was surprised when Mike spoke up on her behalf. "Um, I guess now would be a good time to tell you guys that Tina and I are…we're kind of…dating."

That got a few "aw"s from the girls as Mike smiled in Tina's direction and she smiled back.

"Is that everyone?" Dr. Jackson asked, looking around the room.

"What about Rachel?" Kurt asked.

Rachel shifted in her seat. "Oh, I feel fine. I'm not sick. I didn't play spin the bottle and my immune system is so solid that it would have been impossible…"

"We should probably test you anyways, just to be safe," Dr. Jackson interrupted, and Rachel closed her mouth with a look of annoyance.

"That's everyone, then," Will confirmed. "All 12 of them."

Dr. Jackson nodded. "I'll have a few nurses draw some blood and run the tests, then I'll be back to give all of you some instructions. Any questions before I go?"

"Dr. Jackson," Quinn spoke up, "what about me?" All eyes fell on Quinn's baby bump. Her voice was soft and scared. "What about my baby?"

The doctor smiled gently. "Why don't you come with me? We'll get an ultrasound just to make sure everything's okay."

Quinn nodded and stood slowly, looking absolutely terrified.

"Don't worry," Dr. Jackson said, putting a gentle hand on Quinn's shoulder. "If anyone's spleen seems enlarged, they'll have to have ultrasounds, too. It'll be fun."

When Quinn and Dr. Jackson left, the room was eerily quiet. It seemed that no one had really thought about the implications this might have for Quinn's baby.

"Did he say something about drawing blood?" Puck asked, breaking the silence. "Because I really hate needles."

It figured, Will thought. The toughest guys always were the biggest babies.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you for reading! More to come soon…

It took a while, but eventually all of the kids had been poked, prodded, and left to wait for their results. The award for sickest patient went to Mike, who was sporting an impressive 103.5 degree fever and a massively swollen spleen. He would be out of commission for a while. Vying for second and third sickest were Artie and Tina. The rest of the kids lessened in varying degrees of illness following that, though it didn't seem to stop them from whining any less. Even Mercedes and Kurt, who were just beginning to feel the effects of the illness, were doing their fair share of complaining.

The door to the conference room opened, and everyone looked up to see Quinn returning from her ultrasound. "Everything's okay," she said, smile on her face. "The baby's fine. Look," she said, holding up a black and white image. The group collectively leaned closer to see.

"She's getting so big," Finn said amidst the "aws," and there was a twinge of sadness to his voice.

"How can you tell?" Puck asked, taking the picture and tilting it to the left, then to the right. "All I see is a bunch of squiggles. Can't they, like, use a digital camera or something? Or at least color?" That comment earned him a smack upside the head from his mother.

"She's amazing." Mr. Schuester patted Quinn on the shoulder. "I'm glad everything's okay."

Quinn's eyes became slightly teary. "Thanks. Me too. I mean, I'll have to be really careful for a while, but everything should be fine."

The door opened again and Dr. Jackson reappeared. Everyone in the room got quiet. "Well, I have the results you've been waiting for, and I can't say it's any surprise. Eleven confirmed cases of mononucleosis."

There was quite a bit of groaning even though the results were expected.

"I told you I was fine," Rachel said to no one in particular. "All it takes to stay healthy is a well-balanced diet, regular exercise and rest."

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Berry," Dr. Jackson said, checking his notes. "Your test came back positive as well. Eleven cases did not include the test we did earlier on Finn. If we include that one, it rounds out to an even twelve."

Rachel's expression was caught somewhere between anger and shock. "But…I'm not…I don't…I feel fine," she protested.

"Just wait," Finn said. "Pretty soon your throat will start hurting, you'll get a fever, and you won't be able to keep your eyes open." He patted her on the back. "You've got a lot to look forward to."

"I've printed up home care directions and excuse notes for school," Dr. Jackson said, starting to pass them out. "Our office number is at the top if you parents have any questions or concerns." The group gave their collective thanks, and Dr. Jackson left.

"Mr. Schue, what about regionals?" Artie asked, awake at the moment.

Will's heart sank a little. It was obvious what implications this could have for the group. He forced a little brightness into his voice. "Don't worry about that, guys. We've got plenty of time. All of you just need to concentrate on getting better, okay? Let me handle the rest."

"We're sorry, Mr. Schue," Finn said.

"Yeah. If we would have known…" Tina trailed off, maybe too tired to finish the sentence.

"You couldn't have known. It's okay. Really. Just rest up and feel better, alright?"

Parents and kids alike started packing up before Kurt paused. "Wait a minute. Rachel, you didn't play spin the bottle, but you still got sick. What gives?"

A few murmurs passed through the room. It wasn't often that Rachel Berry's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but this was definitely one of those times.

"Guilty," Puck said, raising his hand, smirk evident on his face.

More groans went up, mostly from the girls, and Will had to shake his head.

Good thing he liked these kids.

_Two days later…_

It was Friday, and Mr. Schuester was walking down the hall between class periods, flipping through the junk he'd just taken out of his box in the mailroom. His planning period came next, and he was hoping to get a lot of papers graded so he didn't have to take them home over the weekend.

"Hola, Mr. Schue."

"Hola, Finn," he responded automatically, barely glancing up. He made it a few more steps before it registered in his mind that something was wrong with that exchange. Finn wasn't supposed to be at school. Will spun on his heel, hoping he had been hearing things, but sure enough, there was Finn, walking away towards his next class. "Finn," he shouted over the hallway noise. He jogged a few steps to catch up and pulled him off to the side. "What are you doing here?"

"I feel better," Finn said, not meeting Mr. Schuester's eyes. "I decided it was time to come back to school."

Will knew that Finn wasn't the world's best liar, and there was definitely something going on. The teen was staring at the floor, shuffling his feet, and he didn't look much healthier than he had at the doctor's office on Wednesday. "Really."

"Yep." He glanced over his shoulder. "I should get going. I can't get anymore tardies in biology. I'll see you after school."

Something clicked in Will's mind. "Did anyone else come back to school today?"

Finn shrugged. "I don't know. I guess a couple of people. You know, mono's really not as bad as everyone makes it out to be."

"Who's here?" he asked, ignoring the way Finn was squirming and obviously ready to get away.

"Rachel, I think. And Matt. Kurt. Mercedes, Brit, Santana, and Tina."

Will nodded slowly. "Okay. Listen, why don't you go hang out in my classroom for a minute? I'll write you a pass for biology. I'll be there in a second."

"Really? That's awesome, because I think today's the day we're supposed to be dissecting a sheep's eye, and I'm all about dissecting something cool, like a frog or something, but really a…"

"Yeah," Will interrupted. "Go head. I'll be right there."

Thinking of the stack of papers on his desk that would now likely go ungraded, Will walked around the building, collecting various glee club members and sending them to his room as he went. When all eight present members were accounted for, he returned to his room as well. They were a somber, tired-looking group, and he knew his suspicions were correct.

"So," he said, perching on the edge of his desk, "who wants to tell me what's going on?"

"We feel better," Brittany said, only it was with the same flat, rehearsed tone that Finn had used.

"Really. Didn't the doctor say you guys could be out for up to a couple of weeks?"

"Not if we had a mild case and took good care of ourselves," Rachel countered. "Which, we did."

"Mmhmm," Will murmured, tapping his chin. "And you're all planning on being at rehearsal this afternoon?"

"Yes," they responded unanimously.

Will looked from Matt's flushed cheeks to Mercedes' glassy eyes to Kurt, who was wearing sweatpants. True, they were probably designer sweatpants of some kind, but they were sweatpants nonetheless. All was not right in this room. A plan suddenly formulated in his mind. "Well, since all of you are feeling so much better, and since I have a free period, why wait until after school? Why don't we do a little rehearsing right now? I'll write excuse notes for your classes."

"Yeah," Santana said eagerly, making Will wonder what class she was missing out on right now.

"Sounds good to me," Kurt added.

"Great," Will said as he stood and pressed his palms together. "Sit tight. I'm gonna go grab some sheet music that I left in the choir room."

In the hallway, Will turned left like he was going to the choir room, but stopped instead at the nurse's office. He gave a brief synopsis of what was going on, and the nurse gave him what he needed with an added comment of, "Good luck."

When he returned to the room, his normally chatty and energetic group was silent, heads drooping on their hands, which was proof enough to him that they should be at home.

"I thought you were getting sheet music," Rachel said, her voice already on alert.

"Well, I was, but then I ran into the school nurse and remembered that you can't return to school until you've been fever-free for 24 hours, so I thought we should check. Just to be sure." He turned on the thermometer and placed a cover on the probe. "Who wants to go first?"

The kids squirmed a little bit, the cracks in their plan becoming obvious.

"I will," Finn said, though his tone was reluctant.

Mr. Schuester gave him the probe to put under his tongue and waited for the machine to beep. "101.4," he read when it did.

"Man," Finn protested, chucking the cover in the garbage. "I took three Tylenol before I left, too."

"Sorry, Finn. Looks like you're out. Who's next?" Brittany volunteered, only her result didn't turn out quite the same as Finn's. "92.5," Will read, more of a question than a statement.

"That's good, right?" she asked, confused, and Will didn't know what to say.

"Brittany," Rachel said, a fake layer of sweet coating her obvious annoyance, "was that a slushy I saw you drinking on the way to class?"

Her face lit up in response. "Oh, yeah. Those are like the only things I can eat right now because my throat's so sore. Cherry. It was really good."

"Mystery solved," Will said, choosing not to remind Brittany that she'd just further blown their cover. "Next?"

The rest of the group had fevers ranging between 99.5 and 102. None of the teens would be sticking around today. "Look guys," Mr. Schuster said as he turned the thermometer off. "I understand and appreciate that you want to be here, but your health is what's most important. Regionals will wait."

"But Mr. Schue," Rachel sputtered, argument already set into her jaw.

"Sorry Rachel," he interrupted. "It's school policy, and even if it wasn't, I won't let you guys do anything that could further jeopardize your health. Give it another week or so, then try coming back."

There were a few groans and grumbles, but most of them looked too tired to put up much more of a fight.

"Now, did you guys drive, or do I need to call your parents to come pick you up?"

"Don't call our parents," Mercedes said immediately, then stopped herself. "I mean…we drove."

Will narrowed his eyebrows. "Your parents don't know you're here, do they?"

"We convinced our parents to go back to work," Tina confessed. "Then we carpooled here."

He nodded, knowing he was still going to have to call the parents to let them in on the kids' shenanigans. That could probably wait a little while, though. He'd let the kids get some rest first. He idly wondered if they would be the first group of teens to be grounded for sneaking out to go to school. "Alright. Drive safely, then. Feel better, guys."

They said their goodbyes, and Will checked the clock. His planning period was over and his stack of papers was untouched, but somehow that was still okay.

_The following Tuesday…_

If someone would have told Will a few weeks ago that he'd be sitting with Emma at her pristine kitchen table after their fourth dinner together in a row, he would have called that person crazy. Tonight, however, he would have called them correct.

"Did you like it?" he asked, motioning to her nearly empty plate. He'd made dinner (using food that she'd purchased, cleaned, and prepared, but that was okay) and now they were relaxing at the table, making the most of the sudden free-time Will had without rehearsals.

"Very much," she nodded with his favorite smile.

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to look at the display. "Huh," he said. "I don't know who this is. Do you mind if I take it?"

"Go ahead," she said, looking perfectly content to pick up their plates and silverware. Sometimes Will was allowed to help her clean up, but she was still in charge.

He held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Is this Mr. Schue?"

He considered lying when he realized it was a student, but thought better of it. "Yes, it is. Who is this?"

"Hey, Mr. Schue! It's Finn!"

"Finn? How did you get this number?"

"Long story. But guess what? You're on speakerphone. Everyone wants to say hi."

Will wasn't sure who "everyone" was, but he thought he heard Puck, Kurt, and a few other familiar voices. He couldn't help but smile. "Hey, guys. How are you feeling?"

There was a rush of responses ranging from "tired" to "bored" to some other things he couldn't understand. He laughed when he had to pull his phone away from his ear a little because of all the noise.

Eventually, Rachel's voice broke through. "We just wanted to let you know that we've been back to the doctor, and most of us can come back to school on Monday."

"Legitimately this time," Mercedes added.

"Except for Mike, because his spleen's still swollen to 50 times its normal size or something," Puck added.

"Well, that's great. I can't wait to see some of you and start rehearsing."

"Us too," Finn agreed. "For some reason, any of us whose parents have to work have been getting shipped off to Artie's house during the day, and the adults take turns watching us there like we're five or something. It's kind of ridiculous."

"I wonder why," Will said. "I mean it's not like you are the types of kids who would sneak out of the house or drink or get each other pregnant or anything," he teased, and the kids laughed.

"Needless to say, we're slightly bored, so we were wondering if you could tell us what songs you're planning for regionals," Rachel's voice returned. "We can get a head start on them while we're just sitting around."

Emma returned to pick up a few more things from the table and she gave Will a curious look. He mouthed to her that it was the glee kids. She smiled and nodded in response, and Will humorously wondered what the kids would say if he told them that she said hello. He decided against it. "No way, guys. You're supposed to be resting, not rehearsing. We'll get started with whoever comes back on Monday, and everyone else can catch up when they return. We'll be fine." He'd said this to the group and himself so many times that he was actually starting to believe it.

"Not even one song, Mr. Shue? We're dying of boredom," Artie pleaded.

"Sorry. No can do. Hey, I have an idea. If you're that bored, why don't you work on some of the homework you've been missing? I can bring it to you if you want."

"Actually, maybe I am feeling kind of tired," Finn said.

"Yeah. Nap time, anyone?" Mercedes asked.

Will laughed at their change of heart. "That's what I thought. Thanks for calling, guys. Keep getting better and I'll see you soon."

There was a chorus of goodbyes and a lot of laughing before Will hung up the phone. He couldn't keep from smiling. Taking over glee club was the best thing that had happened to him this year. At that moment, Emma reappeared at the table.

Well, maybe not quite the very best thing…


End file.
